"It's a baby."
Alfred lifted the carrier and set it down on the couch for a better view of the child. Both blonds sat on either side of the baby. The baby was a boy with little tuffs of dark brown hair on his head. He seemed to be asleep under his blue, soft blanket.
"I know that, I'm not daft. What are you doing with a baby? Please tell me you didn't steal it from the hospital." Arthur said.
Alfred chuckled, "No, I didn't steal him. Please don't be mad that I brought him home."
"What's the sob story, then?" Arthur asked.
"Don't say it like that!" Alfred laughed nervously. "His mom died during childbirth, as soon as his dad saw that his wife died, he was so grief-stricken that he thought he wouldn't be able to raise the child right,"
"Here's your new baby boy." Alfred said, holding the newborn.
The new father took his child slowly with awe. "And what about my wife? What about Carol?" he asked.
This part was the hardest to Alfred. "I'm so sorry, your wife… didn't make it." Alfred said morbidly.
"What?!" the father said sadly, "Who is going to help raise this child with me?" the man tried as hard as he could to not cry.
"Fathers can raise children just as well as mothers can." Alfred tried consoling him.
The father looked down to his son, "He-he looks so much like his mother."
Alfred thought he'd had a change of heart, "He kinda looks like you, as well."
"No, he looks like his mom, no doubt." Alfred sighed. "That's why I can't keep him.' He handed the baby back to the blond doctor.
"What?" Alfred asked
"I can't keep him, he'll remind me too much of his mother. I-I can't deal with that." The man said.
"Then isn't there anyone else who can?" Alfred struggled.
"Maybe from her side, but they didn't want us to have the baby in the first place." The man looked to Alfred.
He saw how calm the baby was in his arms (well, as calm as a newborn can be). "Hey, how about you take him?"
"What?! No, I can't-"
"You said it yourself; fathers could raise better children than mothers,"
"You're twisting my words." Alfred defended.
"But I'm sure he would be happier with you and your wife."
"But I don't have a wife, I have a husband. A husband who'll be extremely mad at me when he sees I just came home with a baby." Alfred tried.
"Please, I'm begging you. Take care of my son." The man pleaded.
Alfred knew he was going to get hell because of this, but a hero never turns down a plea for help.
Some days after that, Alfred got a call. He'd been in a meeting over custody of the child for almost three days now. His phone must've had numerous calls; he could feel every one of them when they vibrated in his pocket. By the third day the head of the meetings told him he was allowed to answer, he apologized and headed out.
"Hello?"
"Al?" It was Arthur.
"Yeah, Artie, what is it?" he asked rushed. Arthur started asking way too many questions over their phone conversation.
"Dr. Jones-Kirkland? We need you in here."
"All right." Alfred responded to the head honcho of the meeting. "Artie, I don't know when I'll be home, but I gotta go." He hung up.
"Dr. Jones-Kirkland, we need you to answer some more questions." A stern voice said.
Alfred sighed in annoyance, but followed the man.
"Alfred, are you married?"
"Yes."
"What is your spouse's name?"
"Arthur Jones-Kirkland."
"…Dr, are you in a homosexual marriage?" Alfred felt that question wasn't on his clipboard.
"Yes, sir."
The man coughed, "If you were to be allowed to care for this child, would you be able to fully give it a proper childhood and raise him right?"
"Of course."
"I trust you know being a parent is no picnic."
"Definitely."
The day passed with questions after questions. Alfred had already not slept in three days over this whole mess.
"Where did you go to college, Mr. Jones-Kirkland?"
"Baylor Medical." Alfred said resting his head on his forearms in the large, shiny desk.
The father of the child walked into the room. "What're you all still doing in here?" he asked.
"We have to be 100% sure that Dr. Jones-Kirkland here can properly care for your child."
"We've been at this for 3 days now, how much more information do you need?" he asked, "Listen, I know I met this guy a while age, but I trust him with my son. I believe he will raise him right." The room filled with an awkward silence, "And the longer we stay in here, the more painful it is to me that I have to think about my dead wife."
The room of older men once again grew quiet. The men looked at each other, then to Alfred. "Doctor, if the father of the child gives you consent for his child… then there's nothing more we can ask you."
Alfred gained a smile, "Does that mean I can have the kid?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes, sir." The head man said.
Alfred jumped out of his chair, he turned to the father, "Thanks, man. I know that he's your kid and everything-"
"Nah, man, he's your kid now. Take care of him like he is." He said.
"You got it." Alfred said.
"Doctor?" Alfred turned around, "Do you have the requirements necessary at home for a child?"
"Uh…" Alfred muttered, "No, not really." The man pursed his lips, "But I can get some, no problem!" Alfred ran out of the room.
Rita stopped him, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, where are you going?"
"I havta get baby stuff." Alfred hastily said.
"You can have my kids' baby things." She said.
"Really?! Aw, thanks Rita! You rock!" he exclaimed and hugged her.
"I'm going home now, I'll bring it right back to you." She said and left.
Alfred took that as an opportunity to see his new son.
"That's pretty much it." Alfred explained.
Arthur looked down to the sleeping newborn. "Wow, this little bugger's been through hell… and he's not even a week old."
"Yeah, And on top of that, I haven't slept in five days."
"You're kidding."
"Nope." Alfred said. He desperately wanted-no needed sleep, but he heeded to convince Arthur not to be mad at him for bringing a baby home with him. 'Artie, I know it seemed like a stupid decision that I made without even calling you, but he really needed me. A hero couldn't just forget about that."
Arthur looked away from the child and Alfred.
"I know we both weren't exactly ready for kids, but… I don't have an excuse, you don't deserve one, whatever we decide to do with him- keep him or put him up for adoption- I have legal rights to him." Alfred said sadly.
"Al, don't worry about it. We can keep him, he's been through too much already." Arthur said.
Alfred hugged his British husband. "Artie, I'm so glad you agreed to keep him!"
"Al, calm down." Arthur laughed.
"Wait, you haven't gotten to the best part yet." Alfred unhooked himself from Arthur.
"What?" Arthur watched as Alfred picked up the child carefully from the carrier and held him. The American carefully handed the boy to Arthur.
"The way he feels in your arms." Alfred quietly said.
Arthur felt the child sleeping, his little heartbeat. Arthur almost felt as if his own heartbeat were to get any louder, it'd wake the young kid. He tried to control it, only to make it go faster and louder. It took his breath away.
"He's cute, yeah?" Alfred rhetorically asked.
Arthur chuckled, "Yeah," he stroked the soft blanket that engulfed the child. "What're we going to call this little guy?"
"His name's Noah." Alfred whispered, close to the Brit's ear. He sat next to Arthur and put an arm around his husband and a hand on the arm that was holding the baby.
"Noah? I love that name." Arthur gushed to himself.
"Artie… he's our son now. Both of us, meaning he's you son, too." Alfred explained. He saw the way Arthur looked at Noah and cradled him close to his chest, he'd seen it many times when mothers first got to hold their baby. Something told him that Arthur didn't need to take that much time to instantly get attached to the small boy.
"Where is he going to sleep tonight?" Arthur asked.
"Ugh, don't talk to me about sleep." Alfred said.
"Well, I'm assuming you got a crib from Rita as well, we don't have space for one."
"What about the guest room?" Alfred asked.
"We can't just get rid of a bed in a few minutes." Arthur replied.
"I'll bring in the crib, he can sleep in our room tonight and tomorrow I'll move it out." Alfred stood and walked out to get the crib.
Once assembled, Arthur laid the fragile child down softly in the crib. Noah squirmed from being removed from Arthur's warmth, but once he was tucked in tighter under the blanket, he was just as peaceful as before. The new parents looked at their baby in awe.
"Alfred, he's so adorable." Arthur gushed into his husband's chest.
"Alfred? You haven't called me Alfred since the eighth grade." Alfred said.
"Well, you called me Arthur the other day." Arthur said.
"What? Ohh yeah. That's 'cuz you wouldn't shut up when I was trying to tell you all this was going on."
"You left me on Valentine's day and hadn't returned, I was incredibly worried. II thought you were gone for good."
"Why? I left on Valentine's day?" Alfred asked clearly confused.
"Yes, you stormed out and gave me a heart attack for the past five days."
"Over what? Ohh, oh yeah, I got over that in like ten minutes." Alfred shrugged and looked down to his husband.
"So this whole time I was extremely worried, you weren't bothered at all?" Arthur asked, looking up to the American.
"Pretty much. Anyway, can I go to sleep now, please?" Alfred asked, already lying down on the mattress.
Arthur chuckled as he climbed on the bed next to Alfred, "Sure, love." He said even though Alfred was already asleep.
Arthur looked to Noah sleeping soundly in the crib next to their bed. Arthur realized babies don't sleep forever. He shook Alfred's arm constantly, "Al, what do I do if he wakes up and wants something? Al? Al! Wake up!" he whispered. Alfred was already too far asleep. Arthur looked to both his boys, watching as they both slept, he smiled. "Oh well." He said and then he kissed Alfred's lips softly. Arthur rested his head on Alfred's shoulder and wrapped the American's arms around him. He too, wrapped his arms around his husband's chest and fell asleep. Not only did he get his husband back that day, he got a son as well.
…
The next morning, Arthur woke up and saw that Noah was awake as well. The baby was screaming as loud as he could, but surprisingly it had no effect on Alfred's sleeping habits. Arthur hopped out of the bed and quickly held his son.
He bounced gently on the balls of his feet with a caring hand on Noah's head, "Shh, it's okay. Shh. You're probably hungry." Arthur left to the kitchen. He decided to stay in for another day off of work to get the house baby-adjusted. Without sleep for five days, Alfred certainly wasn't waking up for a long time. Preferably, he kind of wanted to keep it that way. He worked so hard to get this child; it was Arthur's turn to do some of the work now.
He sat on the couch, gently rocking and angling the spoon of formula for the baby. He got lost in thought, thinking about how cute Noah was. His phone went off with a loud vibrate next to him on the couch.
He answered it before it disturbed Noah's feeding, "Hello?"
"Arthur, darling! Good morning. When you called to ask if we had seen Alfred, why did you call us?" his mother asked over the phone.
"Well, because Al hadn't been home for a few days at the time. He's home now so don't worry about it." Arthur whispered.
"Why are you whispering?" his mother asked.
Arthur breathed in deeply, ready to confess to his mom, "Mum, last night… Alfred came home from work with a baby." He smiled at the last part.
"WHAT?!"
"Shh, I'm holding him right now. He just woke up, already cranky." Arthur conveyed.
"Arthur… are you telling me… that you have a-a baby?!" his mother said softer.
"Yeah." Arthur looked to Noah, making a mess of himself with the formula.
"We're coming over this instant." She said sternly.
"But-" Arthur was cut off by a monotone ring.
Later, the door was knocked on somewhat quiet but obviously trying to be loud enough for the owners' of the house to hear. Arthur set Noah in his crib and walked back to the front door.
He opened to the door to not only his parents, but Alfred's as well.
"Arthur, my son brought a baby into your house?" John emphasized.
"Um, yes, but-"
"Without even consulting you? Were you two even ready for a child?"
"Not exactly, but if you'd just listen-"
"I'm gonna kill that boy."
"Would everyone just listen?!" Arthur tried. The older parents fell silent. "It's true, we weren't ready for children, we hadn't even talked about that, but he needed us to take him. Alfred tried his hardest to fight for that boy, it took him five days. Even though I wasn't expecting it, and whether we like it or not, the baby is here to stay."
"Arthur, honey, you and Al haven't even been married long enough to have this kind of responsibility." Alfred's mother said.
"We're not children. We both know it's a big responsibility, but it's one we're willing to take. I didn't think I was going to be that good with him, but this morning when he was crying something just took over and told me exactly what I needed to do for him." Arthur explained.
"Mary, it's no use. There's no way anything we say is going to get to them. We might as well accept the fact that we're all grandparents." Charlotte told the group of parents.
"Thank you." Arthur said. He breathed in, "Now… would you all like to see him?" Though they didn't need to say anything, they all had approval of the idea on their faces. "Okay, but I have to ask you to be quiet because Al is still needs his rest."
Arthur came in with the baby boy in his arms as the parents gasped in joy. "His name's Noah."
Noah's face wasn't fully developed to have emotions just yet, but Arthur could tell he was soaking up the attention from his grandparents.
The day had gone by with Alfred and Arthur's parents cooing over the baby. It was almost night time by the time Alfred came in from the bedroom with a huge yawn and a stretch. "Hey, Artie."
"Hello." Arthur replied.
Alfred rubbed his eyes, then he saw his parents and in-laws and instantly became worried. "What're you guys doing here?"
"Someone didn't tell us he had a kid in the last twenty four hours." Arthur's father said.
Alfred breathed a chuckle, "Sorry I couldn't update you guys." Alfred took a seat next to his husband and child. Arthur warily handed the baby to Alfred. Once in his arms securely, both blonds leaned into each other, also soaking up the attention.
"When he's older and wonders why he doesn't have a mommy, what are you going to tell him?" Arthur's mother asked.
"Charlotte." His father said.
"Well, it's a fair question. They're both grown men." She defended.
Arthur and Alfred looked to each other, "Well, he should know… I mean that's his mother. If he ever wonders what happened to her, I'll tell him exactly what happened. Honesty's the best policy." Alfred answered.
"You're going to tell him his mother died giving birth to him?"
"I'd rather that then fill him with false hope that she's somewhere out there and didn't want her little boy." Alfred said.
"That's a very brave decision, Al." his father said.
Arthur rubbed Alfred's bicep and smiled up to him. "John, Alfred's a very brave man."
Here's the new story for you. Sorry it took me so long to post, but I just couldn't get all my ideas into my head at once. That doesn't make very much sense, but I don't care. If you guys would show just as much support to this story as you did with the last one, my life will be fulfilled with happiness.
No, this child isn't Sealand. I thought about it being Sealand, but then I thought it'd be too much of a coincidence that he looks exactly like the two of them even though he's not biologically their son. So Noah is another OC, who will be a HUGE part of their lives. And boy, do I have many plans for their trio of a family (Quartet if you count Lilly)